about the lecturer
Giancarlo Alteri is the keeper and director of the Numismatic Department of the Vatican Library and the President of the Accademia Giampaoli per la medaglia d’arte. He is also correspondent of the Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia (Roman Papal Academy of Archaeology) and member of other cultural institutions. He received the gold medal of “Foyer des Artistes” at the Sapienza University in Rome and many other awards for his activity in the numismatic field. He is the author of more than fifty books and several articles about the history of coinage and papal medals, with particular attention to the pieces saved in the Vatican Medagliere.

about the lecture
The lecture is a brief history of the papal medal, from the beginning until the pontificate of Benedict XVI, focusing on the artists who made the papal medal a great form of art and on the medal as an important propagandistic instrument of the Papacy activity.